Cordura kicks off 50th anniversary with global roadshow

Invista's Cordura brand is celebrating five decades of continuous advancements that have helped shape the world of military, workwear and outdoor products. In honour of its 50th year, the brand is launching an array of new fibre and fabric innovations, exciting end-use applications, on-trend collaborations, a 50 for 50 global roadshow and is featuring stories of the past and present from supply chain partners and brand customers.

"This very special year is going to be one for the books as we unveil our most groundbreaking innovations and collaborations," said Cindy McNaull, global Cordura brand and marketing director. "Since commercialization of the fabric in 1967, the Cordura brand has worked hand-in-hand with its mill and supply chain partners to break moulds and blaze new trails - with all signs, roads and paths leading to a next generation of durable solutions. And 2017 may be the best year yet."

The brand kicks-off its celebration in early January 2017 with:

New Fibre Technologies

The Cordura brand has pushed its legacy T420 nylon 6,6 staple fibre to the next level of tenacity. The new state-of-the-art, patent-pending INVISTA T420HT fibre is the highest tenacity nylon 6,6 staple fiber Invista has ever produced.

The military-grade fibre technology is super strong and exceptionally durable, offering a new dimension of lightweight comfort and protection for extreme environments. Already adopted for use in combat uniforms by a major international military, multiple wear trials with fabrics made with INVISTA T420HT are underway, including extensive testing by the US military. Dickies is the first commercial customer to use fabrics made with this new innovation and will launch its Dickies PROTM with Cordura military-grade fiber technology collection in Fall 2017.

Collaborations with Cone Denim on a first of its kind Cordura Selvage Denim and with Artistic Milliners on new Cordura Combat Wool Denim blends usher in new technical denims of the future.

New Collaborations

Special collaborations will reflect on the past and reinvent the future. In the early 1990s, INVISTA's Cordura brand and Woolrich, America's Original Outdoor Clothing Company, collaborated to create Wool-Dura, a specialty blend of iconic Woolrich wool and nylon 6,6 Cordura fabric used in hunting apparel.

Now, the two are back together for the 50th anniversary of the Cordura brand with a newly reimagined Wool-Dura collection of fabric and garments that take inspiration from its hunting-centric predecessor while adding a modern, cross-functional twist for today's urban consumer. Spun and woven in Woolrich's 187 year old mill, the Wool-Dura collection mixes the legendary durability of Cordura fibre with the natural Woolrich wool qualities of warmth, comfort and softness to create a new contemporary classic.

50th Anniversary Capsule Collections

Inspired by icons of the 1960s - like pilots, astronauts, superheroes and more with a modern spin and space age flair - the new Cordura + Struktur Studio + Artistic Milliners 'X Venture Collexion', features state-of-the art Cordura Denim technologies engineered by Artistic Milliners, Pakistan. The future of innovation is collaboration in this exciting retro-futuristic range of garments made with Cordura Combat Wool Denim and Cordura Denim Tencel blends featuring specialist Schoeller 'c_change' and 'cerasphere' coating technologies.

The 50th Anniversary Roadshow kicks off at Winter Outdoor Retailer 2017 in Salt Lake City, then heads to SHOT Show in Las Vegas, Munich Fabric Starts Blue Zone, ISPO Munich in Germany, IDEX in Abu Dhabi, Techtextil in Frankfurt, Germany and more. Follow along on social media with hashtag #CORDURA50.